Originally Posted by
caloso
If the Forester has factory rails (and I've never seen one without), I would go with a roof rack. Simple, reasonably inexpensive, and customizable.
I haven't used a roof rack on my Forester (the kids are gone; I just carry two on a rear-mount), but this should work. I bought a Yakima roof rack about 20 years ago and have used it (with different Q towers) on a '95 Neon, 2000 Civic, 2003 Protege and '03 Protege5. It carried four bikes on a Civic coupe without seriously affecting the handling (killed the mileage, of course, from @34-25). I'm almost certain Sube makes a bike rack attachment for the rails, and that might be the best way to go. Check online, too--I got some Forester accessories for about 60 percent of what Ripoff Subaru charges here.